feature length documentary film in post-production

I've been directing this project for over 6 years now and we are almost done. Co-director Josh Harrell and I launched an Indiegogo campaign towards the end of last year where we were seeking funds to bring this movie to the finishing line. The campaign was successful thanks to hundreds of people who shared and contributed for this piece to come to fruition. You can stay tuned and check for updates at manueldocumentary.com

mutant cactus sculptures on spherical garden

The Growroom is a spherical garden designed for cities. Created by Space 10 (a research hub launched by IKEA to test product prototypes), The Growroom was originally designed with the intent to spark conversations about how we can bring nature back into urban environments and grow our own food, providing a local alternative to the global food model.

The original version of The Growroomattracted enough interest for Space 10 and IKEA to consider selling it, but fabricating and shipping the project across continents seemed antithetical to The Growroom's mission of being a model for sustainable, local movements.

The solution was to make the project open source so that anyone could access the plans.

Sy Arden brought the plans to Moore & Moore Garden Center in Nashville, TN where together they started working on bringing The Growroom to life by partnering with MAKE Nashville and Classic Custom Cabinetry to build it live at the Urban Garden Festival in 2017.

Next it would land at Moore & Moore Garden Center for exhibit and be used to house artist Yuri Figueroa's work during an event that celebrated the newly release book, "Foodscape Revolution."

Live painting session on April 26th with two more Nashville Artists: Jori Lee Johnson and Stephen Watkins at White Avenue studio. The show was put together by Erika Weaver and Syra Khan. The pieces were auctioned at the end of the night and the proceeds went to the Nashville Tree Foundation.

I shot and directed this video project with Inga & Blake for a song she had recorded before she went to form "Lola Montez band" with Blake. I call it a short music film. It had been sitting in the can for a while, but here it is now.